Researcher reflexivity leading to action research in a mathematics classroom : enabling Nelly to multiply again through deconstruction and reconstruction

Abstract

Two studies, at grade six and grade four in Sweden with a mathematics teacher Lea, are drawn upon in this paper to discuss the active role of researcher reflexivity made possible when situated narrative, classroom talk and mediated action are deployed as units of analysis. While in the first study, situated narrative provides access to voices and strategies of students in their attempts at learning the mathematics being demanded of them; the deployment of classroom talk and mediated action as additional units in the second allows further access to students' participation in activities specially designed to promote communication within mathematics. With greater insight into classroom teaching-learning, researcher reflexivity is now encountered in empirical terms, preparing the ongoing study for desirable intervention if necessary. Such an opportunity arises and is utilised when Lea shares with the researcher, her stumbling upon of the faulty use of the equality sign by her students. With activities now designed and conducted to trace the root of the problem and facilitate appropriate use as background, the personal travails of a student Nelly with the multiplication demanded of her also surface. Nelly is found able to multiply in a manner as mandated by the textbook, yet brakes down when unable to respond to a question in Lea's test that seeks the finding of pattern. The processes of deconstruction and reconstruction then lead the researcher to trace as well as resolve Nelly's predicament, allowing Nelly to regain her lost sense of control over her computational abilities as well as confidence. Drawing upon reflexivity substantiated in empirical terms, it thus becomes possible for the researcher to shift her role from a practical to a critical-emancipatory one, as well as – sustain an action research cycle, develop actionable knowledge and crucially, empower Nelly, her teacher and research.Development of students' communication at a grade four mathematics classroo